Colorado River Supply and Demand Study

In 2009 , the Bureau of Reclamation's Upper Colorado and Lower Colorado
Regions submitted a proposal to fund the "Colorado River Basin Water Supply
and Demand Study" under Reclamation's Basin Study Program. In September 2009,
the Study was selected for funding.

The Study, which began in January 2010, is projected to be complete in July
2012. It aims at defining current and future imbalances in water supply and
demand in the Colorado River Basin and the adjacent areas of the Basin States
that receive Colorado River water for approximately the next 50 years, and
hopes to develop and analyze adaptation and mitigation strategies to resolve
those imbalances.

The Study will characterize current and future water supply and demand
imbalances in the Basin and will assess the risks to Basin resources.
Resources include water allocations and deliveries consistent with the
apportionments under the Law of the River; hydroelectric power generation;
recreation; fish, wildlife, and their habitats (including candidate,
threatened, and endangered species); water quality including salinity; flow
and water dependent ecological systems; and flood control.

In June 2010, the Department of the Interior (DOI) released an Interim Status
Report on the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study. The Basin
Study Program is part of the DOI’s WaterSMART Program established through the
SECUREWater Act in 2009. The Act provides authority for federal and state
water and science agencies to work together with water managers to plan for
climate change and other threats to water supplies and take action to “secure
water resources for the communities, economies, and the ecosystems they
support.”

The Interim Colorado River Basin Study Report has some basic flaws that put
into question the usefulness of the final product which is scheduled to be
completed in July 2012. The study plan is separated into four technical
reports that look at scenario development, an assessment of water supply and
water demand, and an interesting explanation of 18 system reliability
metrics.

GCI supports a science-based approach to evaluating and managing water in the
Colorado River basin, though it has not played out in this way so far. In the
past, we have organized and supported many campaigns to fund critical studies
of the historical hydrology of the basin. GCI continues to advocate our Fill
Mead First proposal, which would move the majority of water storage
downstream to Lake Mead. This would likely require long-term re-engineering
of Glen Canyon Dam and new ideas and plans surrounding current and future
climate change.

In the future of the Colorado River, where demand far outweighs supply, more
than just management by traditional assumptions and for traditional user
interests has to be at least discussed. While the opportunity to move in the
right direction and to open a dialogue for real reform and planning for the
future came with the basin study, new ideas have yet to be considered.